Washing Machine Savings Plan
Years ago now, I found myself in a very precarious situation. Money was needed to get out but I did not have access to any, or any that I was earning. So I had to come up with a plan.
Because I was in charge of the washing (surprise) I often noticed all the loose change that would accumulate at the bottom from my master’s pockets. I had that smug thought “If I saved up $2.00 from every load of washing I’d be rich.” And then it hit me. I could save $2.00 from every load of wash, but how would I hide it.
Luckily for me, ING had just become available and it meant I could open up an online account which provided decent interest i.e. Calculated daily paid monthly and it had no fees. It was also something I could keep hidden.
So off to the library I went (no you cannot trust browser history cleaning) and opened up an account. Now the next bit.
I started hoarding all the money from the washing machine. Also when master emptied his pockets onto the dresser, I would slip an extra $1 or $2 coin out of the pile of change.
Because I didn’t have access to my cheque book, and even if I did they could be traced, I devised a plan to cash in the coins into a Post Office Money Order and sent off the money to my online account. $50.00 at a time.
Eventually I saved up $500.00 and then invested it into a stock. You can read about that here.
I kept stashing these coins, got braver sometimes and slipped a $5.00 note here and there. NEVER anything bigger. The washing machine would sometimes cough up a bonanza of coins if someone hadn’t cleaned out their pocket. It took me some months, not going to lie about that. But I got there.
The reason I am telling you this story is not to get you to feel sorry for me or anything like that.
The reason is, I know there is a person reading this, in the same position, unable to get out safely and unable to get access to money to do so.
Desperate circumstances call for desperate measures. It took you a few years to get into this situation, it will take you a few years to get out. But you can get out. $2.00 at a time. Access things from the library if you can. I had to work out my fuel and odometer to coincide my visits to the library with the shopping. It’s doable. I also read books in there and put them back on the shelf. If I got caught up I said the lines at the supermarket were crazy.
In a future post I will map out how saving $5.00 a day can lead to great wealth over time.
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